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(1999). Alexithymia and its Measurement: Confirmatory Factor Analyses of the TwentyItem Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire.
European Journal of Personality, 13, 511-532.
Author note
Emmanuelle Zech, Olivier Luminet, and Bernard Rim, Department of Psychology,
University of Louvain; Hugh Wagner, Department of Psychology, University of
Manchester.
Research reported in this paper was supported by grants FRFC 8.4510.94 and
2.4546.97 from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research and by a grant from the
Fonds de Dveloppement Scientifique of the University of Louvain. It was also facilitated
by the support granted by the Commissariat Gnral aux Relations Internationales
(Belgium) and the British Council. Olivier Luminet is post-doctoral researcher at the
Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research and NATO research fellowship. We
gratefully acknowledge the help of Abdessadek El-Ahmadi for his technical support in
analysing the data. We also wish to thank Victoria Lee, Tom Liggett, and Paul Lattimore in
their help in collecting the data. Finally, we thank R. Michael Bagby, Bob Bermond, and
Harrie Vorst for their comments on an earlier draft of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Emmanuelle Zech,
Department of Psychology, University of Louvain, Place du Cardinal Mercier, 10, B-1348
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Electronic mail may be sent via Internet to
zech@clis.ucl.ac.be.
Method
Indices for the second half of the BVAQ (BVAQ-20 B) revealed an adequate fit
between the theoretical model and the data in each sample. Indeed, although the chi-square
of the BVAQ-20 B was significant for both samples, each of 2 / df ratio, GFI, AGFI,
RMSEA ratio, and CFI met the standard criteria. The parameter estimates of the dependent
model for this version are presented in Table 4. As can be seen in this table, all items of the
BVAQ-20 B in both language versions highly loaded on each of the a priori factors (p <
.001), and were above Stevens' criteria of .30 for a sample size of 300. The five-factor
structure of the BVAQ-20 B was thus replicable in both language versions.
________________________
Insert Table 4 about here
________________________
Concurrent validity
The conceptual similarity between the TAS-20 and the BVAQ involves the
following predictions regarding correlations between their factors. The factor Difficulty
identifying feelings in the TAS-20 and the factor Difficulty identifying in the BVAQ are
conceptually similar, and should therefore be intercorrelated. The same holds for the factor
Difficulty describing feelings in the TAS-20 and Difficulty verbalising in the BVAQ, and
for Externally-oriented thinking in the TAS-20 and Difficulty analysing in the BVAQ. It
follows that only two factors in the BVAQ are predicted to be uncorrelated with the TAS20 and its factors.
Scale-subscale correlations
Theoretically, the factors of alexithymia are supposed to be linked with the total
score of alexithymia. We thus expected positive correlations between the factors and their
total score. To avoid spurious results, the correlations were computed between each factor
and the total score corrected by subtraction of this factor. As can be seen in Table 6, each
subscale of the TAS-20 was significantly correlated with the corrected total alexithymia
score in each language version. Similarly, as can be seen in Table 7, each subscale of the
BVAQ-20 B was significantly correlated with the corrected total alexithymia score in both
Discussion
The present study compared two alexithymia questionnaires and examined their
psychometric properties. We will successively discuss the factorial structure, the
comparability, and the validity and reliability of these questionnaires.
Conclusion
To sum up, the present data indicate that the second version of the BVAQ, the
BVAQ-20 B evidence a better fit to the data as compared to the TAS-20, the BVAQ-40 and
the BVAQ-20 A. It was also the only questionnaire for which the factorial structure was
replicated in two language versions (French and English). However, before further
conclusions can be drawn about the type of alexithymia questionnaire to be recommended,
different issues related to the BVAQ should be explored systematically. First, the
convergent and discriminant validity needs to be investigated. Second, the relation between
the subscale Difficulty fantasising and social desirability deserves further studies. Third, the
theoretical and the empirical status of the subscale Difficulty emotionalising needs to be
clarified. Finally, external validity and reliability should be examined.
In the French sample, respectively mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis of
item 3 are 2.03, 1.18, .86, and -.36; for item 7, they are respectively 2.66, 1.18, .19, and 1.03; for item 20, respectively 2.15, 1.02, .91, and .17; and in the English sample, for item
16, they are respectively 2.21, .96, .56, and .05; and for item 20, respectively 1.95, 1.00,
.82, and .17.
Standard
TAS-20
BVAQ
BVAQ-20 A
BVAQ-20 B
criteria
English
French
English
French
English
French
English
French
1752.18
1713.34
3409.30
4374.07
1083.96
1047.52
1392.79
1344.56
(190)
(190)
(780)
(780)
(190)
(190)
(190)
(190)
381.36*
459.51*
1345.70*
1580.45*
266.99*
385.52*
269.77*
266.21*
(167)
(167)
(730)
(730)
(160)
(160)
(160)
(160)
2.28
2.75
1.84
2.17
1.67
2.41
1.69
1.66
GFI
.90
.88
.87
.81
.80
.92
.89
.92
.93
AGFI
.85
.85
.84
.79
.77
.89
.85
.89
.90
RMSEA
.05
.067
.074
.059
.064
.048
.066
.049
.046
CFI
.90
.86
.81
.83
.76
.88
.74
.91
.91
Null 2
--
(df)
2
ns
(df)
2 / df
ratio
Note. GFI = Goodness of fit; AGFI = GFI adjusted for degrees of freedom; RMSEA = Steigers root mean square
error of approximation; CFI = Comparative fit index.
*p < .001.
Factor 2
Factor 3
.76**
.34**
.60**
.51**
.74**
.76**
.64**
.77**
.17*
.50**
.11
.78**
.56**
.39**
.00
.00
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.00
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.00
.00
.00
.00
.74**
.76**
.67**
.63**
.69**
.84**
.85**
.49**
.52**
.55**
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
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.00
.00
.44**
.43**
.62**
.41**
.16*
.32**
.72**
.24**
.50**
.59**
.31**
.53**
.47**
.30**
.51**
.27**
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 4
Factor 5
A priori factors English French English French English French English French English French
Items
Difficulty
verbalising
Item 1
Item 6
Item 11
Item 16
.70**
.64**
.79**
.56**
.55**
.64**
.78**
.50**
Difficulty
fantasising
Item 2
Item 7
Item 12
Item 17
.00
.00
.00
.00
Difficulty
identifying
Item 3
Item 8
Item 13
Item 18
Difficulty
emotionalisin
g
Item 4
Item 9
Item 14
Item 19
Difficulty
analysing
Item 5
Item 10
Item 15
Item 20
*p < .05. **p < .001.
.00
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.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.45**
.44**
.69**
.40**
.47**
.42**
.65**
.43**
.00
.00
.00
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.00
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.00
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.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.59**
.63**
.56**
.45**
.45**
.69**
.53**
.45**
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
.00
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.00
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.00
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.00
.00
.00
.00
.60**
.49**
.53**
.37**
.24**
.69**
.51**
.16*
.00
.00
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.00
.00
.00
.00
.56**
.53**
.51**
.61**
.25**
.30**
.42**
.79**
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 4
Factor 5
A priori factors English French English French English French English French English French
Items
Difficulty
verbalising
Item 21
Item 26
Item 31
Item 36
.68**
.75**
.66**
.62**
.71**
.74**
.60**
.66**
Difficulty
fantasising
Item 22
Item 27
Item 32
Item 37
.00
.00
.00
.00
Difficulty
identifying
Item 23
Item 28
Item 33
Item 38
Difficulty
emotionalisin
g
Item 24
Item 29
Item 34
Item 39
Difficulty
analysing
Item 25
Item 30
Item 35
Item 40
*p < .05. **p < .001.
.00
.00
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.00
.00
.78**
.60**
.63**
.70**
.51**
.64**
.64**
.64**
.00
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.00
.37**
.78**
.65**
.55**
.49**
.72**
.64**
.61**
.00
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.00
.41**
.61**
.55**
.52**
.40**
.51**
.50**
.51**
.00
.00
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.00
.34**
.68**
.60**
.51**
.46**
.60**
.66**
.57**
Scale
Subscale
BVAQ-20 B
Total
Difficulty
Difficulty
Difficulty
Difficulty
Difficulty
identifying
verbalising
analysing
fantasising
emotionalising
English French English French English French English French English French English French
TAS-20 total
.62***
.61***
.58***
.54***
.65***
.61***
.30***
.36***
.67***
.52***
.24***
.31***
.61***
.57***
.36***
.39***
.80***
.77***
Externally-oriented thinking
.49***
.40***
.15**
.24***
.41***
.21***
Note. Numbers in italics are correlations between subscales assessing similar concepts.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .0001.
.42***
.46***
.02
-.08
.11
.08
.25***
-.11
-.06
-.07
-.06
.32***
.25***
.02
.08
.19**
.09
.57***
.53***
.19**
-.03
.16**
.15**
.09
Subscale 1
Subscale 2
Subscale 3
.32***
--
.44***
--
.51***
.44***
.41***
.47***
--
--
.26***
.09
.34***
--
.22***
.18***
.20***
--
Subscale 1
Subscale 2
Subscale 3
Subscale 4
Subscale 5
English French English French English French English French English French
Corrected Total BVAQ-20 B Score
.41***
.25***
--
--
.16**
.13*
.11
.04
--
--
.14*
.27***
.28***
.17**
.45***
.42***
.23***
.26***
.27***
.05
.40***
.26***
-.04
.05
.15**
.13*
.25***
.15**
.02
.05
.13*
.30***
.25***
.26***
--
--
--
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